Sanitary flight conveyer



June 8, 1954 H. w. HAPMAN SANITARY FLIGHT CONVEYER Filed NOV. 15

Patented June 8, 1954 SANITARY FLIGHT CONVEYER HenryW. Hapman, Kalamazoo, Mich., assignor of forty per cent to Hannah Jane Hapman,

Kalamazoo, Mich.

Application November 15, 1950, Serial No. 195,847

Claims. 1

This invention relates to flight conveyor installation and, in particular, to sanitary flight conveyors.

One object of this invention is to provide a sanitary flight conveyor installation which is substantially free from cavities or recesses in which particles of conveyed material might lodge and which is easily cleaned to prevent contamination of materials subsequently conveyed.

Another object is to provide a sanitary flight conveyor installation of the cable-mounted type having interlocking flights and separators so constructed as to present no cracks or fissures in which conveyed material might lodge, the interlocking arrangement being such that the conveyor can turn corners or pass around guide wheels or driving wheels without disturbing the seal or opening up recesses which otherwise remain closed in straight-away runs of the conveyor.

Another object is to provide a sanitary flight conveyor installation having a sanitary drive wheel or guide wheel, the periphery of which has openings through which the conveyed material may drop without adhering or packing, and through which the wheel can be cleaned by means of a blast of fluid, such as air, steam, water or the like.

Another object is to provide a sanitary flight conveyor installation of the cable-mounted type having resilient flights and separators which are so interconnected that the pressure of the conveyed material on the flights during the conveying operations causes the flights and their separators to ti htly grip the cable, on which they'are mounted, thereby preventing slipping of the flights along the cable. 1

Another object is to provide a sanitary flight conveyor installation of the foregoing character wherein the flights and their separators are as sembled on the cable in a longitudinally compressed condition which further prevents slippage of the flights along the cable.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in central vertical section, of aportion of a flight conveyor according to one form of the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partly in central vertical section, of a conveyor flight and separator employed in the flight conveyor shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a left-hand end elevation of the flight conveyor and separator shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a side elevation, with the upper portion broken away and partly in vertical section, of a sanitary drive wheel or guide wheel used in guiding or driving flight conveyor of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a central vertical cross-section 2 through the wheel shown in Figure 4, taken along the line 5-5 in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a side elevation, in reduced scale and partly in central vertical section, of a coupling device used with the flight conveyor of Figure 1; and

Figure 7 is a side elevation of a flight conveyor installation employing the flight conveyor and guide or drive wheel of Figures 1 to 6 inclusive.

Flight conveyors for conveying food stufls. chemicals and other perishable or contaminatable materials, have hitherto been unsatisfactory because of the existence of recesses or crevices in which the conveyed material could lodge and, in case of food stufls, spoil and serve as breeding places for bacteria. Moreover, such recesses or crevices have been diflicult to clean satisfactorily, with the result that an apparently clean conveyor has been actually only superficially clean and the particles of conveyed material hidden in the crevices contaminate subsequent batches of conveyed material. Furthermore, it has also been difiicult to drive and guide such conveyors because of similar conditions occurring in the guide wheels or drive wheels, preventing thorough cleaning.

The present invention provides a sanitary flight conveyor installation made up of integral disc flights and separators which are interlocked in such a manner on a flexible propelling member such as a cable that no recesses or crevices occur The conveyor flights are assembled in so that the pressure of the conveyed materials squeezes the flights and their separators tightly against the cable and prevents longitudinal slippage. The guide wheels or drive wheels for the flight conveyor are also of a sanitary construction having open peripheries with openings through which the conveyed material can drop without adhering or packing, and through which a blast of a cleaning fluid, such as air, water, or steam can be passed.

Referring to the drawings in detail, Figure 7 shows diagrammatically a sanitary -flight conveyor installation, generally designated [0, of the present invention which employs a sanitary flight conveyor, generally designated 1 I, also according to the present. invention as guided and driven by a sanitary guide wheel l2 and driving wheel l3 rotatably mounted in spaced casings l4 and I5 placed at locations which are remote from one another. The casings I4 and I5 are interconnected by forward and return conduits l6 and I1 respectively, the forward conduit I'B hav ing a filling hopper l8 and the casing I5 having a discharge spout 19. The guide and drive wheels [2 and I3 are mounted on shafts 20 and 2! which are journaled as at 22 and 23 respectively in the casings l4 and I5. The journal device 22 is movably mounted in the casing l4 by means of screw rods 24 passing through lugs 25 projecting outward from the casing I4 and having adjustin nuts 26 threaded thereon. Slots 21 are provided in the casing l4 to permit the shaft 20 to be moved to and fro in order to take up slack in the flight conveyor Mounted on and'drivingly connected to the shaft 2| is a sprocket 28 (Figure '7) which is driven by means of a sprocket chain 29 from a sprocket 3|) mounted on the output shaft 31 of a reduction gear box or gearset 32, the input shaft 33 of which is drivingly connected to an electric motor 34. mounted on top of the casing l5. The casings l4 and I are vertically arranged so as to receive the vertically-disposed wheels l2 and I3 mounted on horizontal shafts 20and 2|.

The flight conveyor I is made up of combined flight and separator units, generally designated 46 (Figure 2) of elastic deformable material such as natural or synthetic rubber or similar materials. The flightumts 40 are mounted upon a flexible propelling member 4|, such as a stranded steel cable, the free ends 42 and 43 of which are coupled to one another by a coupling device, generally designated 44. (Figure 6). Each flight unit 40 includes va disc-like flight portion 45 and a tubular separator portion 46 projecting from one side thereof. The separator portion 46 terminates in an enlarged annular head 41 having oppositely. tapered convex. surfaces 48 and 49 on opposite sides thereof. Immediately adjacent the head 41, the separator portion 46 is provided with one-or. more sealing ridges 56, and also with an internalbore 5| for receivingthe cable 4|.

Theflight portion 45 also has approximately conical tapered surfaces 52. and 53, the surface 52 being convex and the surface 53 concave. The surfaces 52 and..53 are thus tapered in the same direction, the. surface 52being rounded as at 54 where it meets theseparator portion 46 and the surface. 53 being rounded as at 55 where it meets the hub portion.5'| of the flight portion 45. The hub portion 51 is provided with a bore 58 which has an internal diameter slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the separator portion 46, so..that these portions of adjacent units 40 will fit snugly together when assembled, as shown in. Figure 1. Between the bores 58 and 5|, in thehubportion 51 and separator portion 46, an annular cavity or socket 59 is provided corresponding in configuration to the configuration of the head 41 and consequently having correspondinglytapered walls 60 and 6| respectively.

The coupling device 44 (Figure 6) by which the free ends of the cable 4| are coupled to one another, consists of coupling halves 64 and. 65

of similar construction having annular sockets 66 for receivin the ends of the separator portions 46 from which the heads 4! have been severed. The coupling halves 64 and 65 are provided with conical internal bores 61 and 68 for receiving the enlarged approximately conical ends 42 and 43 of the cable 4|, these ends being enlarged by expanding them and filling them with solder. The couplin halves 64 and 65 are bored and threaded respectively to receive coupling bolts or screws 69 and between the coupling halves 64 and 65 is clamped a disc of elastic deformable material, such as natural or synthetic rubber. The periphery of the resilient disc 10 may either be flush with the peripheries of the coupling halves 64, 65 or it may project beyond them as shownin Figure 6, to provide a wiping action.

The guide wheel l2 and driving wheel I 3 are of similar construction, hence a single description, with similar reference numerals, will suffice for both. The wheel l2 or l3 consists of a central disc '13 (Figures 4 and 5) having a hub '14 which is keyed as at 15 to the shaft 20 or 2| as the case may be. The disc 13 is bored at spaced intervals around its periphery to receive bolts 5'! by which periphery sectors generally designated 18 are secured to the disc 13. Each of the sectors 76 consists of a pair of spoke-like transversely spaced legs 3'9 disposed on opposite sides of the disc 13 (Figure 5) and provided with arcuate flanges 36 (Figure 4) adapted to snugly grip the periphcry 8| of the disc 13 and prevent the legs 19 from rocking. At their outer ends, the legs 19 carry peripheral portions 82 of arcnate crosssection and having arcuate ribs 83 located in radial planes on concave toroidal surfaces 83 curved to fit the flight portions45 of the flight conveyor and separated transversely from one another by arcuate gaps 85 (Figure 5). The latter open into open-ended bores 86 forming passageways through which the conveyed material may fall and also'through which a blast of cleaning fluid may be passed-401' example, compressed air, steam or water. As shown in the upper part of Figure 4, the pairs of oppositelyfacing legs 19 are also spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction, so that the open ends of the bores 86 are likewise spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction by circumferential gaps enabling the escape of the conveyed material falling through the bores 86.' Each leg 19 of the peripheral sectors 18 is strengthened by a pair of approximately radial webs 81. The sectors 78 are preferably separated from one another by minute gaps 83 (Figure 4) to facilitate assembly. The arcuate flanges 86, by engaging the periphery 6| of the disc 13, prevent circumferential rocking of the sectors 18, but thelatter may be rocked transversely toward or away from their opposite sectors 18 by means of adjusting. screws 96 threaded through theoutwardly inclined inner ends 9| of the legs 19 (Figure 5) and engaging the opposite sides of the disc 'i'3'. This provides a take-up to compensate for wear of the flight portions by controlling-the. separation of the opposite surfaces 84.

In the assembly of the sanitary flight conveyor installation ID of this invention, the flight conveyor I is first put together. A suitable length of cable 4| is selected, the length being such that it is shorter than the length of the combined flight and separator unit by about inch for each unit. The units.4|l are threaded upon the cable 4| like beads on a string and lubricated with mineral oil while the head 4? of each unit 40 is forced through the bore 58 into the socket 59 of the next succeedin unit 40, the sealing ribs 50 and the adjacent end of the separator 46 snugly engaging the borev 56- because of the fact that the bore 58 is of slightly smailer diameter than the separator 46.

In order for the head 4! to enter its socket 59, it necessarily deforms the hub 5'! by pushing it outward, the hub 51 by reason of its resilience, snapping back into place behind the head 4? after the head 4'! has passed into the socket or cavity 59. The parts now occupy the positions I operation, the

shown in the central portion of Figure 1, and are snugly interlocked.

The free ends 42 and 43 of the cable 4| are now tapered or conical passed through the conveyor conduits I! and around the guide wheel l2 and driving wheel l3. In the final assembly, the parts occupy positions shown in Figure 7.

In the operation inot guide wheel 12 and back through the forward conduit I6 to the hopper N3,

of operation is repeated.

precomp-ressed condition, the force of engagement of the flights 45 with the conveyed material rators 58 to m In this the conveying load is transferred to the I When the conveyor installation 10 has ceased guide wheel and drive wheel l2 projecting axially therefrom, having a socket therein and each separator hav- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 247,622 Doty Sept. 27, 1881 646,634 Brosi Apr. 3, 1900 872,423 Hodell Dec. 3, 1907 1,769,336 Detaint et a1 July 1, 1930 2,326,535 Hapman Aug. 10, 1943 2,476,040 Hapman July 12, 1949 2,595,941 Hapman May 6, 1952 

